10/14/2022
From my weekly “There You Go” column posted this week….
….I can make analogies, parallels and parables to explain what I’m trying to say, but I’ll just spit it out and say it; I have decided to close my business, The Bryant Dakotan, on November 1. The last issue will be October 26.
Please don’t believe for one second this was an easy or spur-of-the-moment decision for me. On the contrary; I have been thinking and praying about this for over a year now. It would be easy to place the blame on my new adventure into the political arena and while that may have helped usher me to my conclusion, it is not the sole reason. The bottom line, or soul reason is, I’m tired of doing it by myself.
I can’t go on a vacation without taking my computer/business along or not having an issue of paper that week. I haven’t gone on any business trips in the last four years without having to take this newspaper with me which makes me either work late into the night after a day’s worth of other work or miss out on something I should be attending. That’s just the actual layout portion of the paper business; there’s the business end, the advertising, the reporting, and feeling obligated to attend every event in the area. The rise in production costs is cutting into any profit I may make but the simple truth is, I’m tired of doing it by myself.
Think of it as milking cows. You can hire the neighbor kid to feed the cows, but there are certain skills and procedures to actually milking the cows that not everyone knows. There are certain computer skills and software knowledge required to put the paper out every week. It’s not just answering the phone, typing copy or doing the bookkeeping. There are so many responsibilities that take more time than I want or can commit to now.
Also making this a difficult decision is realizing that this has been one of the most incredible careers I’ve ever had. I’ve learned everyone has a story, people still like to actually hold a newspaper in their hands, I’ve been allowed to express myself to others through my writing and discovered I’m kind of good at it. I’ve also realized I’m not very adept at being a small business owner. I’ve learned journalistic practices and protocol, been blessed with new friendships that will last the rest of my lifetime and best of all, believe to the core of my heart that the overwhelming majority of the people in my world are good, kind and very supportive. (That would include you, my dear readers.)
I’m finally forced to confess I can’t do it all. Boy, that wasn’t easy to admit, but it’s good to face the truth….
